


Dust, Crime, and Other Diversions

by SparkMasahige



Category: RWBY
Genre: Candles, Cute, F/M, Heist, Partners in Crime, Short & Sweet, Showers, Wax Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:08:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22876819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkMasahige/pseuds/SparkMasahige
Summary: Prior to their involvement with Cinder and the White Fang, Roman and Neo pull off an early heist together and enjoy some well-earned time alone...
Relationships: Neopolitan/Roman Torchwick
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Dust, Crime, and Other Diversions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [XIIIthNobody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/XIIIthNobody/gifts).



> Roman's perspective, Third-Limited Omniscient (TLO) 
> 
> I was inspired by XIIIthNobody's eternal love for PSIC and felt compelled to contribute something to the ship. Roman and Neo remain my RWBY OTP!

The Kingdom of Atlas didn’t import much Dust these days. ‘Much,’ being the operating word, for those who knew. The Schnee Dust Company was decidedly in the export business, and nearly all shops stocking refined Dust across the whole of Remnant bore the twelve-pointed logo on their each and every shipment. Of course, the rates of export taxed the mines something fierce, and the company wasn’t wont to slow their sales for even the most sensible of excuses. And so, each campaign season, as the Atlas Military shored up their forces for another foray against the Creatures of Grimm, that particular organization was in the habit of importing just enough further Dust to make up its own logistical shortfall. It wasn’t public knowledge, of course, as the sort of business practices which required their own nation’s import of product in times of need (often product mined in Schnee mines originally) would not have reflected well on the patriotism of that company. 

Roman Torchwick knew all of this, of course, as, he believed, would any criminal worth his very fine hat. A few proverbial coins in the right pocket, a few clever words, some creative persuasion, and there you had it: Full details of the last Dust shipment leaving Vale before the next Atlas operation. An old friend of Roman’s had once opined to him that “nobody with retirement plans hits a train within three degrees of separation of the Atlas Military alone.” That hadn’t stopped him the first time, though admittedly, it had bought him five months in an SDC private penal centre. He was older now, though, and wiser, as they said, but no less good-looking for it. But far more than that…

He wasn’t alone. 

~~~~

Roman checked his scroll, staying his nerves against the rattle of the monorail car as it shuddered in the throes of the Gravity Dust field suspending it on its way up the mountainside. Thirty seconds and counting, where was she? No, nevermind that. He had a job to do, and she could hold her own, couldn’t she? She always did. Roman prided himself on his professional mind, but there were things in life about which even he couldn’t be exactly objective. Shaking his head to clear it, he pushed to the back of the tram car, ignoring the dozens of tightly-packed Schnee-stamped boxes about him, despite shooting them a longing look or two. They didn’t exactly have a crew anymore, at least for now. Besides, even if they’d had the manpower to pull that kind of volume, they would never have survived the heat. Roman pushed aside the boxes at the far end of the car, revealing a small grey safe in the wall, sealed by a locking mechanism of fine silver clockwork arms, each ending in a narrow cylinder coloured for a different form of Dust. 

“There you are…” Roman could feel himself splitting into a grin. “Only take what you need,” He chuckled softly to himself. “And maybe a little extra for her, you know how it is…” Raising Melodic Cudgel, he squeezed the trigger gently, easing out just enough charge for the safe door to grow hot. Seconds later, the locks, any one of which would have sounded the alarm if it had opened while the others remained sealed, melted away in the same instant. From within, Roman withdrew a thin grey-and-white case stamped with the SDC logo. Hanging his weapon over his wrist, he checked his scroll again. Twelve seconds. He frowned. They had synchronized their scrolls, but for things like this, she was usually early. Could she have run into trouble disabling the security? No, there were only meant to be three of them, that many could never have been a problem for her. Unless their intel had been off? Roman caught his breath, and his pace quickened with every step as he rushed to the end of the car and flung open the door at the rear end. Sharp mountain air stung his cheeks and he clamped a hand down on his hat instinctively. The snow-encrusted escarpment of the mountainside rushed past not a metre below his feet, and beyond the precipice, it was a drop of thousands more. Roman reached for his scroll again. Four seconds… 

The door of the car opposite him cracked open, a slender little guard standing there, trim in her SDC Internal Security uniform. Her raven hair tumbled out behind her cap haphazardly, eyes glinting like emerald crystals against the grey rush of the mountainside behind. The dark handle of a weapon protruded from a long holster on her hip. Roman’s hand was still closed on his scroll as she went for it, his own weapon hanging uselessly from his wrist. His eyes flared, but as the guard clicked her weapon, it unfurled a few inches from his face across the gap of the tram cars. 

Ah. An umbrella. A lacy pink umbrella. Hush, by name, a weapon Roman knew almost as well as he did his own. 

“Neo!” He started, head shaking as he tried to get his mind around it. “I… I thought you were going brunette for this one! I could’ve… I mean, you almost…” The lithe young woman peeked from behind the umbrella, her black hair shifting before his eyes to a dignified nutty auburn. She winked innocently at him as he shook his head, readjusting his hat to hide the grin. “Very funny…” She lowered the umbrella and signed to him with her other hand. 

‘Scare you?’ 

He grinned ruefully back at her. “Yeah… Yes, you know, just maybe…” 

‘They were getting suspicious of the disguise. I had to change it up. Still worked. They won’t be waking up anytime soon. Besides…’ She smirked knowingly, snapped Hush shut, and leapt across the gap between the tram cars in a dazzlingly fluid motion, landing lightly on her back in his arms. 

‘…You like me better raven-haired anyway.’ The little woman tossed off her uniform cap as she lounged in his arms, shaking her hair out as it rippled back into its natural pastel pink, brown, and white streaks. The emerald eyes faded into brown and pink, softy glinting up at him. 

“Maybe… But you know I like you best of all like this.” She remained in his arms a moment, and he could almost have forgotten that they were aboard a speeding train and on the clock at that. Slowly, she curled one arm around the back of his neck, pulling gently, and he felt himself leaning in. As her eyes were half-closed, the side-door of the tram car snapped open. Three muscle-bound men and one imperiously-tall woman in the same uniform Neo wore burst through, hands going to their holsters. The woman took aim at Roman’s head, as he slowly let Neo down onto her dainty heels. The two exchanged a look as they heard the familiar words.

“Freeze! We’ve got you outnumbered! There’s nowhere to run.” 

Roman’s hand went smoothly for the Dust case he had rested against his leg. Then he had to laugh. 

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, ah, lady and gentlemen, but take it from the experts--" Neo reached for his other hand and found it. 

“--There’s always somewhere to run.” He wished he could’ve seen the look on the woman’s face as Neo’s Semblance took hold, and she watched them splinter like ice before their eyes. 

~~~~

It was a small enough place, tucked into the foothills of the first mountain bordering Atlas, just below the snow-line. They had scoped out the cabin to lay low in the few weeks before the job, and while it lacked any fancy amenities, courtesy of its estimated two decades of abandonment, the remaining running water was a nice touch, even if the Light Dust crystals in the lamps had long since been spent. Roman had lit a few candles they’d found in the basement, and he’d offered Neo first pass at whatever hot water remained, while he worked at the lock on the case. He’d boasted that he would have it open by the time she was done with her shower, and half an hour later, he found himself wondering if Neo was really enjoying herself in there, or if she had just decided to let him save face. All the same, Roman could just about feel his own eyes lighting up as he snapped the vacuum locks open. Rested in their foam slots around the edges were perhaps two-dozen small but exceptionally-refined red and orange crystals, but in the centre between them… 

“Yes! Alright!” He threw his arms above his head and paraded himself in a circle around the room. “Two locks in one day! Yes, yes, I know what you’re all thinking…” He bowed before the imaginary audience. “How could such a courageous and handsome rogue be so good with his hands as well? Truly, I am the complete—“ Roman froze as he turned back to face the bathroom door, Neo silhouetted there in her towel like a porcelain doll in a dress. She was covering her mouth soundlessly her sides heaving with silent laughter. Slowly and sheepishly he lowered his arms, as she struggled to sign through her own amusement. 

‘You really are good with your hands, nobody knows that as well as me!’ For half a moment, he was red as his own hair, the embarrassment of the moment caught up with the insinuation of her words. Slowly he stepped closer, placing a hand on her slender waist through her towel. 

“Well, I… Anyway! Look, Neo! Your intel was exactly on the money, if I do say so myself!’ He swept his arm at the case that lay open on the centre table, recovering his composure quickly. In the centre slots, twelve icicles of pale blue-white lay nested in a patterned circle, in imitation of the SDC logo. “Hard-Light Dust! Only the finest Atlas and the Schnee Dust Company have to offer. I figure those should set us up for a while, hm?” Neo’s eyes danced over the crystals, glittering in their case by the light of the handful of candles casting their amber glow about the room. In the sultry light, she ran her fingers down his chest slowly…

There was something special about every job, of course. Some were more meticulous, others, more rarely, resembled today’s heist. Once in a while, a plan came together so flawlessly that, absent anyone to gloat to afterwards, their private celebration carried an especially delectable air. The cushy little hideout this time around didn’t hurt the mood either. Slowly, Neo curled her arm around his waist, nuzzling her cheek into his as they gazed at their prize in the candlelight as if it were their own newborn child. She withdrew for just long enough to sign up at him, eyes catching his in a gently hungry gaze and holding him there. 

‘Once we cash out, I get to spoil you first, big guy.’

“Hah! You wish! No, this time I’ve got something special in mind…” 

Her eyes flickered with mischief, mouth curling into the smug little grin that never failed to tickle his insides. ‘We’ll see who gets to who first then!’ 

“Well, I guess we will then…” He couldn’t resist reaching for her again at that, fingers finding the small of her back and squeezing her against his side. Through the towel, her skin seemed to glow with the heat of the shower, melting into him through his shirt. He had hung his coat and hat on the old-fashioned hat-stand by the cabin door when they’d entered, so it was only two layers of fabric between them now. Neo reached up with her free hand and tugged innocently at the towel fold to the right of her breast, and Roman watched wordlessly as it streamed down her body to the floor, seizing his breath as the candlelight caught her marble skin. It seemed to caress her between her breasts, and she kept his eyes as she raised her shoulders, squeezing them slowly together. Here and there, a few telltale droplets of water clung to her, and but for those, she was warm, dry and smooth as Mistral silk. His shirt seemed to come off nearly of its own accord under the deft guidance of her hands. She was on him then, her little body pressing him into the nearby couch, filled with the strength of needy passion despite her size. The missed moment on the tram was repaid in seconds, her lips catching and embracing his. For a time, the world was nothing but her; the sugary smell of her hair, the joy of every crease and crevice in her skin, her hands closing around his wrists to show him just where she wanted to be touched… 

Few ever took the time to listen to Neo, or rather, to watch her, the way he did. To so many they met, she was just another criminal accomplice, if more theatrical and easier on the eyes than some. Sometimes it angered Roman, but then, there was something special in what they had. And if she had wanted others to know her as he did, she would have ‘spoken up’ long ago, in one way or another. No, it was more than that. She trusted him. With her life, of course, as he trusted him with hers every day in that wild and bewildering life of theirs. Trusting someone with your life wasn’t so special anymore, really. It was part and parcel to working with anyone on any job they’d taken since they’d started the gig. But she trusted him with her heart, and she with his. And that was rare enough among normal people, to say nothing of people like themselves. 

Roman nibbled his way luxuriously down Neo’s neck, leaving a gentle, almost reverent kiss on a telltale scar just below her throat. As he made his way down her chest and between her breasts, she smirked down at him, glancing knowingly at the candles on the nearby table. 

‘I’m still kind of cold, you know?’ 

“Are you, my dear princess? Well, I can arrange any number of ways to help you with that…” 

She giggled silently, then nodded again to the candles. ‘Maybe we could take advantage of those?’ Her eyes met his knowingly, almost dangerously, yet it was clear after so long together what she was asking for. 

Neo really was a dirty-minded little minx when she wanted to be, and with him alone, behind clothes doors, she often did. Delicately, Roman reached for one of the candles and raised it delicately between two fingers. Their eyes clung to the flickering light as he held it over her smooth little body. He glanced at her once more for final consent, and she nodded slowly, but with another sweet little grin. Roman tipped the candle to on its side like a phial, and a thin finger of red wax fell down to slither between her breasts. Neo’s shoulders rose and shuddered as she loosed a low, thin squeak, squeezing her eyes tight for a moment, intermittently relaxing and tightening her body while the burning hot liquid dribbled over one breast and then the other. Roman bit his lip as he watched the rich red wax harden rapidly over her skin. 

“It’s not too much, is it?” he asked before he could stop himself, but he was glad he hadn’t. She winced through a few residual spikes of pain, yelping softly as the feeling seemed to even out. She opened her eyes again, her breathing sharp and rapid. Neo shot him a masochistic little smirk as he replaced the candle in its brass stick. 

‘No, you know how much I like a little burn now and then…’ She stuck out the tip of her tongue playfully, and Roman chuckled, climbing atop her. He ran his fingers over the waxen patterns between her breasts, slowly peeling them off to reveal enticing reddened flesh below. When the last of it was brushed aside, he leaned in to run his tongue over her breasts, teasing the tender skin. Neo squirmed deliciously beneath him, whimpering and squealing softly into his ear, until her hands found his face and drew him in again to her mouth to silence them both utterly. As he drew back, he stared breathlessly into her eyes, watching them shift from pink and brown to brown and pink on the other sides and back again. Slowly, she signed to him, still holding his gaze with a far-away smile. 

‘Roman. Sometimes, you seem to worry about me even when you know we both want to do something. Just like you worried about me back on the train. Even when you don’t have to… You’re always concerned about me… Nobody else ever--'

Her hands stopped then, and she looked up at him almost helplessly. Roman took her fingers in his. 

“Neo… It’s not just one way, you know that right? It’s not exactly like I’ve got anyone else looking out for me either, now do I? Not in this life. But I don’t need anyone else. I worry about you because… Because I trust you to look after me too.’ Neo’s eyes seemed wider for a moment, or perhaps it had just been the light. But suddenly, her arms were around his neck, and his face was buried in hers. When she released him, it was only for another kiss, and then another, and on it went…

The candle turned out to be only the beginning. After all, they had days to kill before the heat was off them, and only one another for company. Of course, they wouldn’t have had it any other way. And they’d snagged quite the prize to share between them. 

The Dust was just a bonus.


End file.
